Drake Passage
They say it takes a steel nerve and steady eye to navigate the Drake, that infamous body of water that roils between the tip of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. Five hundred miles of the potentially worst water in the world awaits anyone desiring to visit the frozen continent by ship. Yesterday the departing guests of the Endeavour had pantomimed through the airport window a graphic story of what our crossing could be like. Did we quake in the knees? Did we form second thoughts and try to scheme a way out of this madness? Well, perhaps such ideas surfaced here and there but the resolution to go south was strong among us and we were not to be deterred now. We cast off before sunset knowing that in the morning we would be in the Drake and that the Drake would be, most assuredly, indifferent to our desires.
As it turned out, today could have been smoother, but not by much. The Drake was in a pleasant mood this morning and got mellower as the day progressed. The sun shone all day and the winds graced us, not with salt spray, but with a parade of sea birds gliding past us on the stern again and again: northern giant petrels (shown here), wandering albatross, pintado petrels, black-browed and gray-headed albatross, royal albatross and blue petrels, to name a few.
These are truly pelagic birds, ones who regard the Drake as just a neighborhood in their larger home, the Southern Ocean. Their intention could well be focused on a nest over a thousand miles away and they may be back there in few days, ready to feed their growing chick with the bounty gathered here. Later in the day we learned more about these “ocean nomads” from natural history staff member Stefan Lundgren. Our own viewing experiences from on the stern earlier in the day combined with his slide/lecture presentation to plant a seed of admiration and wonder in our minds: imagine being completely “at home” in the middle of the Drake!
They say it takes a steel nerve and steady eye to navigate the Drake, that infamous body of water that roils between the tip of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. Five hundred miles of the potentially worst water in the world awaits anyone desiring to visit the frozen continent by ship. Yesterday the departing guests of the Endeavour had pantomimed through the airport window a graphic story of what our crossing could be like. Did we quake in the knees? Did we form second thoughts and try to scheme a way out of this madness? Well, perhaps such ideas surfaced here and there but the resolution to go south was strong among us and we were not to be deterred now. We cast off before sunset knowing that in the morning we would be in the Drake and that the Drake would be, most assuredly, indifferent to our desires.
As it turned out, today could have been smoother, but not by much. The Drake was in a pleasant mood this morning and got mellower as the day progressed. The sun shone all day and the winds graced us, not with salt spray, but with a parade of sea birds gliding past us on the stern again and again: northern giant petrels (shown here), wandering albatross, pintado petrels, black-browed and gray-headed albatross, royal albatross and blue petrels, to name a few.
These are truly pelagic birds, ones who regard the Drake as just a neighborhood in their larger home, the Southern Ocean. Their intention could well be focused on a nest over a thousand miles away and they may be back there in few days, ready to feed their growing chick with the bounty gathered here. Later in the day we learned more about these “ocean nomads” from natural history staff member Stefan Lundgren. Our own viewing experiences from on the stern earlier in the day combined with his slide/lecture presentation to plant a seed of admiration and wonder in our minds: imagine being completely “at home” in the middle of the Drake!
